Even though Firefly has been cancelled for over 10 years, we still feel it’s necessary to warn you: Spoilers ahead!

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After describing in detail just how crushing the death of Wash was to his psyche, Hill begins to breakdown the science behind it. Wash was killed off at the end of Serenity, a victim of a Reaver spear that blasted through the spaceship’s forward-facing windows. After analyzing NASA forums, technical reports, and glass manufacturing data, Hill concluded that there was a chance the spear would have been unable to pierce the impact-resistant glass surely present on a…

TJ wraps up the week with a look at Kirsten Dunst and Jim Sturgess in the ‘Upside Down’ trailer, Film.com’s look at ‘Movie 43’ - it’s a debacle of the highest order, John McClane causing havoc in Russia, ‘Hansel and Gretel’ leading the weak box office, Maria Hill possibly appearing in S.H.I.E.L.D., ‘The Flare of Abrams’ video, Joss Whedon dreaming of a ‘Firefly’ return, the ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ fan trailer, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Joe’s review of ‘Parker’ - spoiler, it was not a great film, TJ’s review of ‘Hansel and Gretel’ - The MovieByte Podcast #29 in which TJ and Joe discuss both films, the ‘Olympus has Fallen’ trailer, ‘House of Cards’ is now available on Netflix, and what you might like to see this weekend!

The weekend is here again, there’s new films in theater, there’s old films in theater, there’s bad films in the theater, there’s decent films in the theater. Let’s explore shall we?

New This Weekend

Bullet to the Head - R
I can’t find a synopsis longer than a slightly longer than short sentence. That should tell you something:

After watching their respective partners die, a New Orleans hitman and a Washington D.C. detective form an alliance in order to bring down their common enemy.

That’s it. I’m not a fan of Stallone films so I am probably the wrong guy to ask, but this film…

Oscar-winning composer James Horner has been hired by director Gavin Hood to write the music for Ender’s Game. The film, scheduled for release November 1, stars Asa Butterfield as a kid-genius recruited to space so he can train as a military leader. Harrison Ford co-stars along with Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Aramis Knight, Moises Arias and others.

What was the last good film Horner Scored? The Legend of Zorro in 2005? (Yes, there’s Avatar — but I said good film). So yeah, I’m definitely in it to hear a good score from Horner!

Also, the film looks interesting:

In…

Unfortunately the bulk of the picture is cut together like a beer commercial on poorly lit cheap video without much panache. Unless primary colors with a gauzy halo is panache. Can’t be sure. Nor can you be sure if Sly is wearing tons of lipstick in some shots. (It’s really, really bad video.)

There’s a place for “Bullet to the Head” and that’s on Superstation at 3 AM when you stumble home from the bar and have enough sense not to start drunk dialing. In 1993.

So, not great then? Just guessing, it’s hard to tell from the tone of this piece…

Bad, for a greater good.

Ruthless and cunning, Congressman Francis Underwood (Oscar® winner Kevin Spacey) and his wife Claire (Robin Wright) stop at nothing to conquer everything. This wicked political drama penetrates the shadowy world of greed, sex, and corruption in modern D.C. Kate Mara (“American Horror Story”) and Corey Stoll (“Midnight in Paris”) costar in the first original series from David Fincher (“The Social Network”) and Beau Willimon (“The Ides of March”).

It appears that Netflix has gone and released 13 episodes instead of releasing them one at a time on a schedule of…

TJ and Joseph after ‘The MovieByte Podcast’ Episode 29.

Joe and TJ talk about Joss Whedon’s wish to do more ‘Firefly’ — which warms a nerd’s heart, Lex Friedman tries to cut the cord and how Cable companies are clinging desperately to the old business model, the SAG Award Winners, and then this little bitty bit of news about J.J. Abrams directing the next ‘Star Wars’ film and what all that means and entails. Then the main topics for this week’s episode are ‘Parker’ and ‘Hansel and Gretel’. Neither TJ nor Joe liked ‘Parker’ very well and there are definite morality issues to consider when your hero is no hero at all but a “principled” thief (whatever that means). ‘Hansel and Gretel’ was a topic of a bit more debate. TJ enjoyed the film but Joseph did not. Catch their thoughts and reviews of this film right here!

Tough situation? check. Evil bad guy? check. Lots of guns and crazy stuff? check. Uh, yep, looks like Die Hard.

And it looks like the apple doens’t fall too far from the tree where McClane’s son is concerned. Check it out.